


Bullseye

by PastelMess



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - No Band, M/M, happy boys, yep they work at Target
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 16:04:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11466963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastelMess/pseuds/PastelMess
Summary: Did you know you can save 5% with a Target redcard?





	Bullseye

**Author's Note:**

> So here's the thing, I work at Target in the Starbucks area. I love my job, but damn do we have a lot of drama. Anyways, this was inspired by work and stuff. Also, everyone that is in this fic is bc there is an actual person that works in that department where I work. There's an Alex and a Tyler in electronics, a Josh in hardlines, a Patrick who cashiers, a Mark who is a senior team lead, and a Brendon and a Jack who used to work at Starbucks. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> [Russian translation](https://ficbook.net/readfic/5877287)

“Yo, Tyler,” Alex pops his head over the aisle where Tyler is currently restocking film for Polaroid cameras. He scans the barcode on the back to put it into the system and hangs it up on the shelf. Twelve bucks for one of these things? No thank you.

“What’s up,” Tyler replies without looking up. Alex may have liked to goof around at work, but Tyler was actually going to do his job.

“You know Brendon, from Starbucks?”

“Uhm... maybe?”

“He’s like, one of the two guys that works over there. Tall, brown hair, jawline that could cut glass? Customers love him.”

Tyler leans back on his knees and sets his scanner down. “Yeah, I think I’ve talked to him once or twice. I don’t drink much coffee so there’s really no need for me to go over there on my breaks.”

“You’ve never even gotten water over there?”

Tyler shakes his water bottle gently. “I bring my own water.”

Alex scoffs and says jokingly, “Over achiever.”

“Yep, that’s me. What about Brendon?”

Alex rests his forearms on top of the shelves and grins ear to ear. “He says the new guy has the hots for you.”

An eyebrow quirks up. “Oh really?”

“Yes, really. I can’t remember his name, but he’s got faded yellow hair, gauges, a pierced nose,  _ and  _ tattoos. He’s like, everything you love.”

Tyler snorts and returns back to work. “Oh, sure.”

“I’m serious! Jack said so too.”

“Jack works with Brendon. They cause all kinds of trouble. Just because someone  _ said _ something doesn’t mean it’s true.”

“Dude,” Alex shakes his head, “you work at Target. Stop being so serious all the time and have fun once in awhile. You know all our bosses love you.”

“Pfft.” Tyler rolls his eyes and continues scanning the polaroid films.

“All I’m saying is that you should go talk to Brendon and figure some stuff out about this guy. You’re always complaining about how not enough people are gay and how all the hot guys are straight, right?”

“I really don’t think this is a conversation appropriate for work.”

Alex groans loudly and finally makes his way into the aisle. “Go, get. I’ll finish up the inventory. There’s probably a guest looking for an Xbox or something stupid like that.”

“If I hand this over to you, I’m trusting that you’ll get it done,” Tyler says seriously. Alex nods his head rapidly.

“I will willingly do my work if it means you have a chance at getting laid.”

Tyler shoves him playfully before standing up and straightening out his red tee. His fingers toy with his name tag as he watches Alex settle down onto the tiled floor and begin scanning in the rest of the film.

“Go!” Alex barks at him, and with one last roll of his eyes, Tyler leaves electronics to go to the front of the store.

-

Brendon is grinding coffee beans when Tyler makes his way into the Target cafe. His bright green apron is covered in mocha powder and coffee stains and the edge of his Foo Fighters t-shirt pokes out from underneath.

Tyler clears his throat to alert his arrival, to which Brendon stops the grinder, fixes his hat, and turns around, a grin already plastered across his face. He must be in “customer service" mode. Tyler knew that all too well.

“Hey, what can I get for you?”

“Could I get a water?” he mumbles, feeling a bit stupid for doing this. Brendon nods.

“Of course. You want a trenta?”

“Works for me,” Tyler replies, having absolutely no clue what a trenta even means. He waits patiently while Brendon scoops ice into a large plastic cup and begins filling it with water.

“So,” Brendon starts, and Tyler prepares himself. “Have you met the new guy?”

“Which one?” Tyler plays dumb.

“Josh. He works hardlines and consumables. I’m pretty sure he’s only been here a couple of weeks though. He’s got faded yellow hair and tats, just like you. Well, the tattoo part at least.”

“No, I’ve never met him.”

“Well, you should.” Brendon slams his water down and tosses him a straw. “He thinks you're hot.”

“How do you know that?”

“He gets coffee every morning he works here. Venti black iced coffee with two pumps of hazelnut. I think sometimes he even gets an extra shot of espresso. The dude is fucking crazy when it comes to coffee.” Brendon shakes his head in amazement. “Anywho, he asked if you were single. You know people only do that when they think you’re hot, right?”

“That doesn’t prove he’s gay though, right?”

Brendon shrugs. “He asked if  _ you _ were single. I think that counts for something, don’t you think? The two of you would make a very attractive couple, if you ask me.”

Jack pokes his head from around the corner, his Starbucks hat on backwards, a poof of bleached hair sticking out from underneath. He’s wearing a nametag that says “Kelly” on it. “Are you guys talking about Josh?”

“Yep,” Brendon grins. “I think Tyler should go after him.”

“I’m very bad at flirting with people,” Tyler says, causing Jack to laugh.

“The dude looks intimidating, but he’s shy as fuck. You’ll be fine, I promise. For real though, you should go talk to him. Bren’s right; he definitely has the hots for you.”

“Do any of you ever work?” Tyler throws his hands up. Brendon laughs.

“Sure, when we have customers. It’s one in the afternoon on a Wednesday. People are at work and nobody is wanting coffee. Speaking of which, Jack, when are you gonna take your lunch?”

“Two, probably, that okay?”

“Works for me.”

With a sigh, Tyler removes his straw wrapper and jams it into the cup. “Thanks.”

“Keep me updated!” Brendon calls out as Tyler leaves the cafe and heads for the back of the store. Maybe he’ll just... run  _ into _ Josh. If he’s working hardlines, he’ll be on the floor, around the toothpaste aisle or something. If he’s working consumables, he’ll be in the grocery aisles. Tyler finds himself wandering back and forth, sucking down his water nervously, where he runs right into his senior team lead, Mark.

Mark raises an eyebrow. “What are you up to, Tyler?”

“I’m on my break,” Tyler lies, although it’s sorta true. Alex gave him permission.

“Oh, cool.” Mark smiles, and Tyler relaxes. “So... I heard the new guy has a crush on you.”

Tyler groans. “Does everyone know about that?”

“Words travels fast around here. Seriously though, you should go for it! You’ve worked here just as long as I have and you’re  _ still _ single.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tyler grumbles under his breath as he continues down the aisle, secretly hoping he  _ will _ run into Josh.

“He’s down in the freezer aisles,” Mark shouts, grinning ear to ear. Tyler ignores him and picks up the pace, hustling slightly until he in fact reaches the freezer aisles. He maneuvers around stay at home moms with their small children and freezes, his lips still wrapped around the straw, when he sees Josh. Sure enough, there he is, long, faded yellow hair, a sleeve full of bright colors, pale skin that looks so  _ good _ under his maroon tee, and bright white plugs that Tyler can see from the other side of the aisle. 

He’s putting away frozen pizzas, his muscles rippling under his t-shirt as he stretches to reach the top shelf. Tyler remains frozen as an elderly lady passes him to grab a package of green beans. 

_ This is stupid,  _ Tyler tells himself. He’s twenty-three years old, staring at another employee like he’s the star of some teen high school drama movie. What he should do is get back to work and not worry about his dating life right now. Sure, things were rocky, but that was expected, right?

Josh looks over at him and flashes him a half-smile. Tyler shivers and blames it on the freezers, not the butterflies.

“Hey, you’re Tyler, right?” he calls out. Dammit. Now Tyler has been sucked in. 

He takes a few steps down the aisle and smiles politely back. “Yeah, that’s me.”

Josh reaches out to shake his hand. He’s got a firm handshake.

“Nice to meet you, everyone says you’re a really cool dude, so it’s an honor to finally put a face to the name.”

Tyler snorts. “Whoever is telling you that is a liar.”

Josh’s half-smile grows into a full fledged grin, straight, white teeth and all. “You work in electronics, right?”

“Yeah. I’m on my break right now.”

“Ah, cool. Have you taken your lunch break yet?”

“Nope, I’ll do that around three, I think.”

Josh nods. “I’ll take mine around three too. Maybe we could chat, or something?”

Tyler shivers again. This time, it’s the butterflies. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Cool.”

-

When Tyler gets back to the electronics department, Alex is sitting on a stool at the cash register, helping a guest purchase a camera. He shoots Tyler a look as Tyler makes his way around and sets his water down. He’s almost drank all of it out of pure nerves.

When the guest leaves, Alex turns towards Tyler. “How’d things go? Did you talk to Brendon?”

“Yeah, and I talked to Josh.”

Alex’s eyes widen. “No way. And?”

“Annnnnd we’re eating lunch together.” Tyler’s cheeks turn red as Alex cheers. He shushes him and pulls on his arm. “Shh!”

“I can’t believe this is happening. I feel like a proud father. What are the chances that you, Target’s only openly gay guy, is going on a date with Target’s new openly gay guy?”

“Shhhh!” Tyler says again, feeling more embarrassed by the second. A mother with a toddler on her hip looks over at them in curiosity. Tyler busies himself straightening some Redcard pamphlets. “One, you need to mellow down. Two, it’s not a date, because we are happening to take our lunch break at the same time. I’m sure the break room will have other people in it. And three, he’s not  _ openly gay,  _ we barely know anything about him. I’ve worked here six years, he’s worked here three  _ weeks! _ Please stop spreading rumors, the entire team has heard them at this point and I’d rather keep my life private.”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. I promise I’ll be better.” Tyler waits for Alex to finish off with something stupid, as he usually does, but he says nothing. That’s surprising.

“You promise?” Tyler raises an eyebrow. Alex crosses his finger over his heart and holds out his pinky.

“I promise.” With a sigh, Tyler leans forward to link his own pinkie around Alex’s. “Will you at least tell me how it goes?”

In response, Tyler walks away. He’s gonna go restock some video games, or something.

-

With his lunchbox in hand, Tyler stares at the time clock and takes a deep breath. Josh is a boy. This isn’t a date. There will be other people in the room. Everything will be fine.

“You good, dude?” Patrick, a cashier, asks as he shrugs his jacket off his shoulders. He must be coming into work.

Tyler blinks and reaches to punch out for lunch. “I’m fine. Just tired is all.”

“When you off today?”

“Six.”

“Fun. I’m off at seven-thirty.” He straightens his shirt and points towards the time clock. “You done?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tyler steps out of the way and clutches his lunchbox closer to his chest. He knows how dumb he looks and doesn’t care one bit.

The clock chimes with approval when Patrick finishes. “So I heard the new guy--”

“See you later,” Tyler calls over his shoulder as he basically runs down the hallway to go into the breakroom. Josh is sitting at the very back table, one earphone in his ear as he watches a video. He’s eating pizza rolls.

Oh, and he’s the only person in the room.

_ Seriously? SERIOUSLY? _

Josh smiles as Tyler shyly makes his way over to the table and sits down. He busies himself by pulling out his sandwich and a small bag of celery as Josh shifts next to him and pulls out his earphones.

“You’re eating much healthier than me,” he points out. Tyler shrugs.

“It’s called being lazy.”

“Nah, man, this is called being lazy. I spend like ten bucks a day on lunch and coffee.” he chuckles to himself and leans forward on his elbows. “How long have you worked here?”

“Six years.” Tyler wishes he could leave, but it’s hard to find a job when you didn’t go to college. He’s been working on a band thing, but that hasn’t quite come to terms yet. Tyler’s got a band name, and some song lyrics, and knows how to play instruments, but that’s about it.

“Oh, woah dude. That’s a long time.”

“Yeah, well. It’s a job.” he shrugs again, unwraps his sandwich, and takes a large bite. He chews in silence as Josh reaches over for the TV remote and turns the volume down.

“I used to work at Starbucks,” Josh says, breaking the quiet, as he goes back to picking at pizza rolls. “They wanted me to work at the one here, but I never want to do that ever again. As much as I love coffee, that job stressed me the hell out.”

“No kidding, it sounds stressful.”

“Helped me get better at talking to people though. I have terrible social anxiety. The absolute worst. I take medication for it and stuff, but I’m getting better more and more every day. In fact, these days I have an easier time talking to people.”

“That’s good,” Tyler says, watching Josh push his pizza rolls around on his paper plate. Red sauce stains the white of the plate. “I take medication for the same reason, actually.”

“Oh, cool. Well, not cool that you take medication, I guess, just that we...” Josh trails off and runs a hand through his faded hair. “That came out wrong.”

“It’s okay,” Tyler promises.

“Anyways. I like this new job. Everyone is super nice and you are super cute.”

His cheeks turn pink as he looks up to meet Josh’s eyes. Did Josh really just say that? Really?

Boys never told him they liked him. That wasn’t something that ever happened to Tyler. Besides a couple online hookups, Tyler had never really had someone actually hit on him. Was that what this was?

“W-what?” Tyler stutters out, sticking his hands under the table to roll his palms over his knees.

“You’re super cute. Probably one of the cutest boys I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. And trust me, I’ve seen a lot of boys.”

“Who told you I was gay?”

“Brendon.” Josh grins. “He said you were open though. I would hope he wouldn’t bring you out of the closet.”

“Oh, no. I came out a long time ago.” Tyler finds himself smiling now too, his cheeks still flushed with color. He finds himself unable to break away from Josh’s perfect face. “What about you?”

“I’m bi,” Josh replies nonchalantly, and Tyler finds himself liking him even more. “Like I said though, you’re cute. And I’m hoping, that maybe, there’s a chance we could possibly go on a date and get to know each other a bit better.”

“I think I’d like that.”

Josh cocks his head and continues to stare. He runs his teeth over his bottom lip and leans on his elbow. “I know we’re at work, but...”

Tyler thinks he blacks out for a few seconds, because suddenly Josh is looking towards the door and leaning in, his hands latching onto Tyler’s thighs as he presses himself forward. Tyler’s eyes close, and suddenly lips are on his, and he doesn’t believe it. He’s  _ kissing  _ a hot boy at  _ work.  _

Tyler Joseph is  _ kissing  _ a hot boy in the _ Target breakroom. _

This is dangerous. This is so dangerous. Another team member could walk in at any second and see the two of them making out and do...  _ something, _ Tyler doesn’t even want to think about what could happen, but he doesn’t find himself caring. His hands grip Josh’s waist, his fingers bury into his tee, and he pushes closer, grinding against him cautiously, testing his grounds as Josh’s tongue finds its way into his mouth.

It’s the shrill tone of the time clock that breaks them apart. Josh wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and smiles politely. “That was amazing.”

“Agreed,” Tyler responds shyly, wriggling around in his seat. He chose the wrong day to wear his khaki joggers. Hopefully no guests ask about the boner Tyler is now sporting.

“I hope I can kiss you again on our date.”

“Hell yeah. How’s this Friday night sound?”

“Sounds good,” Josh nods, standing up to collect his trash. He dumps it all in the garbage bin and reaches for a plastic cup to fill with water out of the sink. Tyler finds himself staring at Josh’s ass, curved perfectly in his tight khakis.

And before Tyler can think it over, the question spills from his lips. “You don’t happen to play an instrument, do you?”

Josh turns back around with an eyebrow raised and takes a sip of his water. “I do, actually. I play drums. Why?”

Tyler smiles. Yeah, this could work out. “I’ll tell you Friday night.”

“Okay then. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Josh finishes the rest of his water, throws the cup away, and waltzes out of the break room like the two of them hadn’t spent a good five minutes making out. Tyler hangs back a few minutes, listening as Josh clocks back in and heads back out onto the floor. He hears a voice crackle over his walkie.

“Tyler, how does six o’clock sound?”

His hand flies out for it. “That sounds good.”

And suddenly, Tyler doesn’t dread coming into work anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> This is how Josh and Tyler actually met btw


End file.
